Electrical Impulses
by Rargamonster
Summary: SciFi AU. Byakuya awakens after an attack of mysterious origin to find that parts of his brain are now contained by a computer. Rukia, devastated by her sister's murder, dreams of a normal life. The siblings seek revenge, though not of the legal variety.
1. Chapter 1

**Electrical Impulses**

**Chapter One**

The first thing Byakuya was aware of as he slowly meandered back into consciousness was a steady beeping and whirring. It was relaxing in a way - ambient, rhythmical - but as he began to regain full use of his mind, it was no longer relaxing.

Beeping. Whirring. He could not feel the majority of his body. Something medical had happened.

He wrenched his eyes open with effort, sedatives and painkillers in his system making his control over his own body sluggish, and realized he only had vision out of one of them. He could tell from that bit of limited vision that he was in the medical ward of the Kuchiki estate, hooked up to the very latest in cutting edge medical technology.

Memory. The attack. Hisana.

Something – someone – stirred on his blind side, and he snapped his head over in that direction. Not that he would be able to do anything about it if someone was here to finish he job they had started, as he still could not feel any of his limbs.

It was only Dr. Unohana.

"I see you are awake," she said in her quiet, studiously formal voice, "How do you feel?"

Byakuya took a moment to collect his thoughts, while she moved from machine to machine, looking at different reports on his vitals. Eventually he managed to say, "Better than expected, considering the circumstances," his voice coming out in a strained croak.

"Any pain?" she asked, making a note on his charts.

"Nothing of note. I cannot feel much at all."

"Yes, well..." Unohana paused for a moment, deciding instead to help Byakuya sit up while she decided on what exactly to tell him. She lifted a glass of water to his lips so he could drink.

Byakuya glanced down, catching sight of gleaming metal where his limbs should have been. He looked closer.

"Do you remember the attack?" Unohana asked, managing to still hold on to her professional, calm demeanor.

Byakuya nodded, staring at the shining prosthetics.

"There was an extensive amount of damage done to your body. We had to amputate to save your life. There was a lot of brain damage as well, but fortunately Yoruichi-san arrived shortly for a meeting with you. As I understand, she created a type of very advanced computer to take the place of certain parts of your brain, and fabricated the prosthetics. I will let her know to come by this afternoon so she can begin calibration."

Fortunate, Byakuya thought bitterly. Not fortunate enough to save Hisana, he assumed from the fact that the doctor had not brought up the topic yet. Unohana was an incredible doctor, but behind the reserved demeanor was a soft heart. He knew Unohana hated to break the news of a death to family members; it was one of the reasons she had left her previous job in the emergency ward of a busy hospital to become the private doctor of the Kuchiki family. Since she was neglecting to mention Hisana's fate, it was safe to assume she had not survived the attack on the Kuchiki estate.

"How long have I been out for?" he asked.

"11 days."

"Has any news of the attack gone public?"

"No," Unohana assured him, "The media made a few inquiries as to your disappearance from the public view, but they have been told you are abroad maintaining business relationships."

"Good," Byakuya nodded. He would sort this mess out as he recovered. There was no way he was letting those media vultures know the extent of the damage done to his family.

Ironically, given Byakuya's distaste for reporters, he was one of the reasons their business could thrive. He was the president and CEO of Kuchiki Communications, the biggest communications company in the world. Years ago, when he was still young and reckless, he had made a gamble on a rising new technology, and it had paid off thousands of times over. Kuchiki Communications had a monopoly on interactive holo-projectors that were booming in popularity; they could project images and scan to interpret movements of the user, creating a highly realistic environment. Some of the more expensive setups attempted to simulate a completely immersive environment providing feedback for all five of the senses, but that technology was still clunky and imprecise. Kuchiki Corp's holo-projectors had become a wildly popular platform for intensely realistic games, interactive storytelling, and obsessive gossip v-logs and newscasts. There was also a growing niche for interactive pornography, which Byaykuya found mildly appalling and extremely undignified.

Yoruichi, his childhood friend, had also gotten started business in the rapidly growing technological sector. Shihouin Systems developed advanced AI, and although she was brilliant, Yoruichi had little interest in building up her business. This was probably the fault of her longtime lover, Urahara Kisuke, an eccentric man who liked to live simply and who built mechanical prosthetics. Byakuya had been trying to convince the two of them to form a partnership with Kuchiki Communications, to improve upon the sensory feedback modules that he found to be unsophisticated and of poor quality, but they had been refusing him consistently for about a year now.

Yoruichi could have a bit of an evil streak (although she would stubbornly categorize herself as "mischievous"), and Byakuya's fear that she and Urahara combined might someday create a robot army to take over the world was not entirely rooted in jest. Although, he considered, neither of them would have the ambition to follow though with anything too maniacal.

The door to his room swung open without warning. "Byakuya-bo," came Yoruichi's greeting.

Byakuya deliberately made eye contact, his face carefully arranged to communicate indifference and just a _slight _amount of disdain at her use of that particular nickname. She ignored the look with the familiarity of a childhood spent together, and pulled a chair up to his bedside.

"So, shall we get started then?" she asked, an almost feral grin plastered on her face.

Byakuya knew he should find her expression to be worrisome, but emotions weren't coming to him all that easily. Perhaps it was shock, or perhaps those parts of his brain had been destroyed. "What is it we are starting, exactly?"

"Starting up your systems, calibration, some stress testing, seeing what your body's up to handling at this point in time. We'll probably have to stagger our start up of new areas of functionality; we don't want to put too much strain on you all at once. Alright?"

Byakuya nodded.

"Great," Yoruichi strode around to his blind side, "As I'm sure you've noticed by now, you've lost an eye. Let me just connect this here-" she connected some wires, "-and you should have vision back."

Sure enough, Byakuya's left field of vision faded into view. He blinked, noting that whatever optical implant Yoruichi had installed did not register the interruption in vision. No eyelid, apparently. What did he look like now?

Yoruichi kept chatting to him, explaining different detection modes for the electronic eye. He had night vision now, and infrared detection, and he could connect to other computer systems and pull up their data right before his eyes now, if he so pleased. In fact, now that significant portions of his brain were now advanced computers rather than your typical grey matter, he could communicate fairly easily with just about any computer system with a wireless receiver; it was just a matter of learning the languages. It shouldn't be all that difficult, he thought, as he accessed the estate's security cameras. Everything looked to be secure, so he tried telling the security system to open and close a door remotely. It worked, confusing the guard on patrol in the process.

"...You'll really be able to find out a lot of interesting stuff once you learn to understand computers and their languages. There's so much data out there that people try to keep secure, but knowing you, you'll have figured out how to decrypt most of it within a couple of months. So many subtleties in programs that point to their hidden purposes... Speaking of programs - you'll like this - you're in the unique position of having the ability to re-program your own brain. I've put a computer in your head, yeah? There's all the normal life functions in there, breathing, motor control, and all that, but there's also control over things like neurotransmitters and hormones. You can literally rewrite your instincts from there... how you react to stress, how easily you fall asleep..." she grinned teasingly, "A control freak like you'll love that."

Choosing not to respond to the "control freak" comment, Byakuya simply nodded his approval of the system.

She activated the robotic limbs next, explained how they were connected to his nervous system, helped him test out his range of movement, pointed out where batteries were located. A small panel in his wrist opened up to reveal a thin charging cord.

"Keep an eye on your battery levels," Yoruichi warned him, "The amount of time you'll get per charge depends on how heavily you use your systems. Wireless communication takes a lot of power, and too much physical exertion will drain you too. If you reach critical energy levels, your system will start shutting down the more advanced functionalities to keep your brain alive and your heart pumping. You don't want to be caught in the middle of another attack when that happens."

Byakuya frowned. "Hisana," he said abruptly.

Yoruichi lowered her head solemnly, "She was already dead when I got here. There was nothing I could do," she looked down at his hand, resting motionlessly on the crisp sheets, "Life is just a very, very complex system of electrical impulses and chemical reactions, but once that's stopped- Once that's stopped, I don't know how to restart it."

He looked dead, then. His remaining eye went blank and his already stern mouth turned stony. His head shifted slightly, turning so as not to face her, and a lock of long, smooth black hair fell across his eyes, effectively obscuring her from his view.

"I'm sorry," she said, knowing it was not enough. She stood to leave. "Oh, and try to talk to Rukia sometime soon? She's safe, your security team got her to a secure location as soon as there was a breach. Pulled her home from her class trip as soon as they were able. She's really messed though, obviously, with all that happened... She's terrified you're gonna kick her out as soon as this all blows over," Yoruichi gave him a pointed look, "She needs you."

Rukia hugged her pillow tighter, curling herself into a tense ball of concentrated misery. Counting the passing seconds, she held her breath in so she wouldn't cry. The intense urge for tears passed slowly, and she let out her ragged breath once she was sure she wouldn't break down quite yet. She straightened back up, leaning against her doorframe, and peeked through her half-open door, afraid that Renji would be looking at her with that mournful pity in his eyes again.

He was.

She buried her face in the pillow again. "Don't look at me like that," she mumbled, just loud enough for him to decipher.

"Sorry," he said, just as quietly, averting his eyes. It was hard for him to see his best friend look so hurt and lost, and with him being part of the Kuchiki security team, they probably weren't supposed to be talking to each other at all.

She was crying; Renji could hear her restrained sobs even through the muffling of the pillow - the kind of spasming bursts of grief that couldn't really be held back, though he knew Rukia was trying her best. She was strong, he knew, but the events of the past couple of weeks would be a lot for the strongest person to handle. He kept his thoughts to himself, knowing he would only embarrass both of them if he were to attempt to speak them. He wished he could hold her, comfort her, assure her everything would turn out fine, tell her the hardships she was facing now were only temporary, but... Their relationship wasn't like that anymore. Things had changed between them after Hisana had married Byakuya Kuchiki, and after Rukia had been adopted into the noble family. The sisters had left the little neighborhood they had grown up in for something much, much better, and Renji had followed, joining the extensive Kuchiki security force. Things weren't the same; things couldn't be the same as they had been. His presence and protection would have to be enough comfort for Rukia, because he couldn't offer anything more.

The sobs stopped slowly, and Rukia raised her head after a moment of relative silence. "I'm sorry," she quietly apologized as she wiped at her eyes with the sleeve of her pajamas.

"Don't worry about it," he insisted.

"I just... I wish... everything would just go back to normal," she said, not meeting his eyes, "I want to go back to school. I want to graduate next month with everyone else. I want to come home and have tea with nee-san and nii-sama. He can even be completely silent, and I won't complain to you about it later. Etiquette lessons, dancing, stuffy formal events, meeting stuffy formal people, all of it, I won't complain anymore, just..." her grip on the pillow tightened, "I want to run and get ice cream with nee-san, and come back to eat it in the courtyard, and sneak into nii-sama's office to leave him a bowl while he's on a conference call, and take bets on how long it'll take him to give in and eat it anyway..."

She got quiet again. Renji didn't know if he could say anything to that, so he looked both ways down the hall quickly, to make sure no one was there, then glanced up at the security camera that periodically made sweeps of the entire hallway. It was rotating out towards the the far end that led out to the grand staircase, so he had a couple of seconds before it was pointed back their way.

"Hey," he muttered to her quietly to get her attention, then quickly leaned into her room and pulled her into a brief hug. She relaxed into him and held on, burying her face into a shoulder and locking arms around his chest. His arms closed around her instinctively and held her small body close to him. She was crying again. So much for having a quick hug while the security cameras were turned away; at least it was only Yumi on duty to watch the security screens tonight, and his silence could be bought with a tub of high-end face cream.

"What's going to happen now?" Rukia asked.

"I don't know," Renji answered, unable to restrain his smile at feeling her voice reverberate through his chest, "We won't know anything until your brother wakes up and makes some decisions."

She shifted in order to cling closer to him, "Why can't I talk to any of my friends from school?"

"Security measure," he answered, fingers gently toying with the tips of her hair, "The estate is completely shut off from outside. No communications at all. Only Yoruichi and that guy she's with were able to come through, though letting them in wasn't exactly intentional on our part. Servants who had the day off are still stuck outside, and none who were inside were allowed to leave. No one outside even knows there was an attack. No one knows your brother was hurt, or your sister-"

He stopped speaking abruptly as her tears started again, instead concentrating on holding her tightly, on the feeling of her petite body pressed up against his muscular frame. "Everything's gonna turn out fine," he assured her, hoping he wasn't telling her a lie.

**A/N: Hi there, and thanks for reading. I've already completed this story in its entirety. It's seven chapters long and I'll be updating with one chapter every week until it's done. I'm rating this M for safety, due to violence and language in later chapters. This is probably not necessary, but I'd rather err on the side of caution. **

**Please consider leaving me a review! Any question/comments/criticisms are appreciated. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Electrical Impulses**

****A/N: Thanks for the review and the favorites on the first chapter! Just to clarify: This story is not going to be Byakuya/Rukia in the romantic sense; I tagged the story with them as the main characters because they are the main characters. Sorry for any confusion. ****

**Chapter Two**

It was several more days before Byakuya decided to meet with Rukia; he had many pressing matters to attend to, and wished not to see anyone face-to-face until he had some control over his limbs. Many things he could attend to through a text or voice correspondence - press releases explaining away the sudden silence from the influential Kuchiki family, directions to his concerned and confused subordinates at Kuchiki Communications, messages to inquisitive acquaintances - but he must meet with his adoptive sister in person.

Yoruichi arrived, as promised, in two days' time to increase the power threshold to his prosthetics and various implants, and to discuss any additions he wished to make to his new frame. She had left a lot of wiggle room in the construction of the limbs, assuming he would want to incorporate some sort of self-defense or weapons system hidden within. He had several ideas in mind which could be tricky to implement, but he also had a great deal of confidence in Yoruichi's abilities.

She had brought the necessities to make cosmetic changes to the prosthetics along with her, and started on those modifications after they had decided on a weapons system: many small, thin arcs of metal, razor sharp and aerodynamically sound. And attached to tiny propulsion engines, programmed to be wirelessly maneuverable, controllable by a mere thought passing through Byakuya's mind.

He was looking forward to having the system implemented, but, as befitted the head of the noble house of Kuchiki, did not allow himself to show any outward excitement.

Yoruichi continued to absently explain some basic concepts in computer programming as she carefully covered the metal limbs with a realistic looking synthetic skin. It was tricky to get the skin to fold and stretch correctly with the movement of the limbs, and the trickiest part was the hands; after several adjustments and growing frustration, the knuckles still didn't look quite right.

"I'll wear gloves, then," Byakuya decided, flexing his fingers and watching the subtly inaccurate ripple of synthetic skin and tendons.

He sent for Rukia after Yoruichi left. She arrived shortly and nervously took a seat at Byakuya's bedside. They exchanged greetings and lapsed into an uncomfortable silence.

"Um, will I be able to go back to school this year?" Rukia asked hesitantly, deciding to start with the easiest and least unpleasant of her list of inquiries.

"For your exams, yes, with a security force," her brother answered, "I understand your term is ending soon, but I will not risk putting you in unnecessary danger."

Oh. Rukia couldn't say she wasn't expecting that answer, but she had hoped she would be able to go back to classes, see her friends...

"When will things be back to normal? What about my graduation ceremony? Will I still be able to go to university?" Her other question, _Will I be trapped in this house forever? _went unspoken.

Byakuya inclined his head, "Once I know is responsible, and can gauge the level of threat."

"So there's going to be an investigation?"

"No."

Rukia stared at him in disbelief. How could there _not _be an investigation?

"So... You're just going to cover this up then?"

"We will say Hisana succumbed to a chronic illness that we hid from the public. The funeral will be held this weekend. The property damage will be explained away as a training accident on the part of our security force; anyone in the business who knows Zaraki will believe that without question."

Rukia remained silent, not trusting herself to say anything without expressing rage at her brother, and rage was not fitting of a Kuchiki. How could he be so callous? Byakuya was going to cover up the brutal murder of her sister and let whoever was behind it get off without so much as a slap on the hand? Rukia hadn't seen the aftermath of the violence personally, but she had overheard the correspondence after Renji had literally pulled her away from her school group on their trip to Osaka and tossed her into an armored car. The description of the weapons used, and how the initial perpetrator had broken into the security system and tagged himself as a guard so he could walk right up to Hisana and Byakuya undetected, place a small device, and walk away. The hordes of armored, armed robots that had materialized moments later. The bullets that lodged themselves into flesh and ignited, burning away her sister's body from the inside. The reactions of the guards that found Byakuya barely alive and Hisana burned beyond recognition. The mysterious disappearance of the phantom guard, the attacking mechanisms, and the planted object. She struggled for composure, wanting justice for the villains, but not wanting to anger the brother she now depended on.

She lowered her eyes and forced herself to nod, resigned. "Then... nee-san's body. How will we hold a funeral with a body that obviously did not meet its end by illness?"

"Yoruichi and her... paramour are taking care of that. They will reconstruct her so that there will be no suspicion."

Ah. Rukia should have known he would have a solution for everything. "And, what will happen to the person responsible for all this?" she allowed herself to say, her voice carefully metered so as not to betray her anger at the injustice Byakuya was perpetuating.

"The police will conduct no investigation; as far as they are aware, there has been no crime." He saw the anger that flashed through Rukia's eyes before she subtly averted her gaze, "Do not mistake this for inaction on my part," he said softly, "I am meeting with a private investigator this afternoon, a contact of Yoruichi's, and when we find the ones responsible they will wish I had let the police handle it in a civilized manner."

Finally allowed contact with the outside world again, Rukia scrolled through pages of text messages, missed calls, and emails on her phone.

She tapped out a terse message to all of them, "Sorry to worry everyone, I'm fine. My sister has been very ill and passed away, and I lost my phone in the chaos. I'll be back at school for exams." There. She could respond to individual questions as they came up.

She left her door half-open (it seemed to put her assigned guards at ease if they had a better idea of where she was at all times; plus then she could hear when Renji came to replace whoever was on duty today) and set up her study space at her desk. She had a powerful, top-of-the-line computer with multiple large screens arranged around her, so she could display all of the information she needed easily and conveniently. The lists of missed material Ishida had sent her daily went up on one screen; digital textbooks and problem sets she pulled up on others. She connected her phone to a final screen, so she could text back answers to the already incoming stream of questions without having move her hands from the keyboard: a concisely worded offer of condolences from Chad and a slightly longer-winded expression of sympathy from Ishida, to which she sent back quick thanks; a rather emotional message from Orihime, Ichigo calling bullshit on the loss of her phone, and various other condolences and inquiries from other school friends. She sent off replies quickly, giving the time and location of the funeral to those who wanted to know, thanking everyone for taking the time to try and comfort her. To Orihime, she sent a longer message, remembering that while most of their circle of friends had lost loved ones, Orihime was more empathetic than average, in addition to having lost her brother recently.

She didn't bother responding to Ichigo; he was right. She hadn't lost her phone and, under normal circumstances, would have been able to let them all know she was okay just as easily using some other mode of communication. She couldn't exactly tell him that she had been put under house arrest for her own protection and isolated entirely from the outside world for two weeks.

The next few hours she spent reading up on new class material, reviewing the old for her upcoming final exams, and working through problem sets. She was almost done with a series of problems on integrating over constrained volumes when she heard Renji chatting with the guard previously on duty. They would switch soon, and then she could take a break from studying and spend some time with Renji. It would be so damn nice to talk to someone without fielding the never-ending stream of condolences and pity; every few minutes, a new message would pop up on the screen from one of her friends, and it was just dragging her back down into the endless loop of grief. She needed a break.

"Hey," she said to him as she finished up the last problem in the set and loaded some reading onto her phone. She grabbed some pillows off of her bed and arranged them into a seat by the door, making herself comfortable in her little nest.

"What you working on?" he asked from outside her door as she was settling herself.

"Finding quotes for my Lit final paper," she answered, absorbing herself in the text.

"Fun," Renji responded dryly. Sometimes he regretted not finishing school - it's not like he was _stupid_- but this wasn't one of those times.

"It's not that bad, actually; the book's kinda humorous, but I don't like analyzing it to death," Rukia said absently, highlighting a passage with her finger.

"Well, at least this is the last time you'll have to. Unless you decide to do more in Uni."

"Eh, maybe a class or two, but I won't major in it."

They lapsed into silence for a while, Rukia flipping through pages on her screen and Renji looking down the hall, wondering if he was supposed to say something next.

He decided on, "You worried about exams at all?"

"Not really. I've already been accepted to a few schools, so this doesn't really matter that much anymore. Besides, I only have four exams, then our senior formal, then graduation," she looked up at Renji, momentarily distracted, "I don't know if I'm going to the formal, or graduation. I forgot to ask nii-sama about those."

"You forgot?"

"Well, I was gonna ask, but then we started talking about nee-san, and the funeral, and private investigators, and it didn't seem quite as important anymore."

Renji looked thoughtful for a moment, "Well, you're gonna go to school to take the tests. With lots of security there. He might let you go with a couple of bodyguards."

"Yeah, but a dance'll be different. It'll be dark and crowded. And it might be a problem having bodyguards backstage with me at the graduation ceremony."

"You talk to him about it, and I'll start getting some plans together with the rest of security. I'm pretty sure your school will be accommodating for Byakuya Kuchiki."

"I just wonder how he's gonna excuse the sudden security increase. We're not telling anyone what really happened to nee-san, so there isn't any real reason..."

"He'll work it out," Renji said confidently, "Your brother's smart, and knows how to work people, and would do just about anything if you asked for it. So stop worrying."

He leaned over to ruffle her hair, and she swatted at his hand reflexively, then frowned as she neatened her hair. "I guess I am just worrying too much, huh?" She leaned up against the doorframe and looked up at him sheepishly.

He smiled down at her fondly, "You tend to do that sometimes, y'know."

He settled down by her, leaning up against the wall on the other side, his fingers just barely brushing against hers. They stayed like that for a while, quiet and content in each others' presence. Rukia found it almost comical at times how comforting Renji was to her. He certainly didn't look like the type to be calming, with his bright hair and extensive tattoos, but they had been friends since forever and even bickering with him could take a load of stress off of her.

Things between them had changed since she joined the Kuchiki family, though, and he had become more and more distant. It had seemed inevitable at the time, but she found herself missing the familiarity between them. Maybe it was coming back. He had always been there for her, she realized, just not always in quite the same way. It had been a little awkward on both their parts for a while, she reflected, but Renji had always been there when she needed him most. Renji had pulled her away from her school trip all those weeks ago, and held her hand through the entire harrowing ride home to the Kuchiki estate. In the days after, he'd apparently traded shifts with other members of the security team so he would be around her more often, a familiar face in the aftermath. And he'd held her while she cried, those few days ago, and she'd caught him looking at her a few times with an expression like fondness in his eyes.

Her phone buzzed. It was an incoming text from Ichigo: "You're ignoring me. Was I right, or did you lose your phone again?"


	3. Chapter 3

**Electrical Impulses**

**Chapter Three**

Hisana's funeral held on a sunny Saturday afternoon in a garden on the Kuchiki estate. It was a succinct, formal ceremony that went by in a blur of emotion, and Rukia could barely remember what had happened once it was over. Many of her friends from school had attended, offering more condolences and sympathies, which she forced herself to accept with noble grace.

She sent thanks to every god she could think of that she didn't have to speak - then took it all back, because those same gods had allowed her sister to die in agony.

Latched on to Renji's arm, she watched, silently, as the casket containing Hisana's perfectly restored body was closed and lowered into the earth. She looked so peaceful, the opposite of the truth of her death. Rukia wanted to scream, wanted to let everyone know the truth, that there was someone out there - a murderer running free. But she couldn't. Being a Kuchiki meant not giving in to those petty emotions. She had a duty to uphold, to keep the secret of her sister's death so vengeance could be taken in secret, and no one would ever find out the truth of their family's weakness.

She buried her face in Renji's side as dirt began to fill in the grave.

Somehow Byakuya had known about the formal and graduation, even though Rukia never quite had the nerve to bring it up to him. She suspected Renji might have mentioned it to him at some point; although Byakuya obviously thought Renji was uncivilized, rash, and ill-mannered, he had a grudging respect for his opinions. Rukia quietly entertained the idea that Byakuya might not dislike Renji as much as most other people thought. Over the years, she had begun to understand that her adoptive brother did, in fact, have a sense of humor, although it was unconventional, subtle, and hidden under layers of formality. She suspected Byakuya gathered some amount of amusement from keeping Renji on his toes.

After the funeral, Byakuya had asked some of her friends to stay and help her pick out dresses for the events. It wasn't quite what Rukia had pictured when she envisioned picking out dresses for the dance and for graduation. She had always imagined being at an actual store, trying on dresses of all shapes and sizes with Hisana, but that was now impossible. It might not be so bad though, she thought, as she looked at Orihime, Tatsuki, and Chizuru chatting animatedly around the room. One of the servants was setting up an interactive holo-projector that would be the next best thing to trying on real dresses, and others were setting out snacks for the group of girls.

"You know, maybe Ishida-kun should have stayed too," Orihime was thinking aloud, "He has such a great eye for clothes and fashion."

Tatsuski snickered, "That would be so uncomfortable for all of us."

"Yeah, he's not really that much of a people person," Momo shrugged, seeing Orihime's slightly confused expression.

Orihime paused a moment, considering.

The projector popped on, and Rukia found herself suddenly wearing a brightly colored, voluminous yet revealing garment with far too much decorative beading for her taste. She giggled at seeing her body in something so obviously not her taste, joining in the others who were already flicking through new designs on the touchscreen hooked up to the projector.

Tatsuki let out half a giggle, half a snort and exclaimed, "Ooh, ooh, you have to try this one!"

Rukia found herself suddenly in a long dress made of gaudy white lace over a solid, deep maroon. And it had feathers on it. Feathers lining the neckline, feathers sticking up from the shoulder seams. Silver, _metallic_feathers, and roses made of crinkled, twisted fabric going down the sides.

It was hideous.

"Where are you guys _finding _these things?" she asked in an amused horror.

"Shh, we have to find accessories," Momo giggled, picking out a lacy clutch. Orihime contributed by finding a hat adorned with more flowers than a rosebush, some peacock feathers, and a stuffed squirrel. She desperately hoped the squirrel was fake.

"Wow," Rukia said, impressed by her friends' ability to find garments of maximum ridiculousness when they put their mind to it, then burst into laughter.

"Hey," Renji said, pushing the door to the security screens open, "You didn't say anything to Kuchiki, did you?"

Yumichika turned away from the wall of screens, muttering, "Ugly, so ugly," and gave Renji a blank look. "What's this about, Abarai?"

"I _know_ you see just about everything that happens in this estate," Renji didn't understand it, but Yumi seemed to legitimately enjoy watching the security screens. He figured it had something to do with blackmail fodder, which was reasonable enough, but the job was just so _boring_. "I talked to Kuchiki about letting Rukia go to some of her end-of-year events, and he asked me to escort Rukia to her senior formal. He made some subtle comments about how he thought I'd enjoy the assignment and how I'd better keep her safe. You didn't say anything to him did you?"

"Oh, that. What's the problem, then? Don't you want to go with her? I thought you liked the girl." At Renji's murderous glare, he relented, "Oh fine. I didn't say anything; I didn't have to."

"And what do you mean by that?"

"The access logs to the security recordings. The man goes through and watches _everything_, did you know?"

Renji paled, "Do you think he noticed?"

"Well, he's spent the most time going over the recordings of the day of the incident, probably trying to figure out who the intruder was. But," Yumi paused for dramatic effect, "He went over the recording of you hugging his sister a couple of times, so he _definitely _knows something's going on between you two." His feathered eyebrows arched suggestively.

"Fuck."

Exams flew by in a blur, and before Rukia knew it, she was sitting before her guidance counselor, having passed all of her classes with flying colors, to decide which university she would be attending in the fall. She decided on Seireitei University's highly ranked business school. There would be a couple of familiar faces from high school there: Ichigo studying law and criminal justice, Momo with linguistics and literature, and Hitsugaya with computer science and a soccer scholarship. Most of her friends were going elsewhere. Ishida was attending the very competitive Quincy Fashion Academy and Orihime would be going to the same city for culinary school. Tatsuki was going to be instructing at her old dojo while she took more time to decide on a major. Chad would be going to an American university to study political science and international relations. Keigo, Chizuru, Mizuiro, and many others were staying at local junior colleges.

It was so strange to know that this weekend was her last with all of the friends she had gotten to know so well over her high school years. They'd all be leaving on their separate ways soon, and maybe they'd never see each other again like this, in such a close group. She would have to visit often, but she wasn't quite sure the others would make the same effort to come visit her at school. She would meet new friends, she supposed, but she didn't even know if Byakuya would consent to let her stay in the dormitories, especially after all of the security issues they were now facing. And she would be leaving Renji behind...

She shook her head, clearing that thought. She'd cross that bridge when it came, and she and Renji could always keep in touch electronically. That would have to be enough...

Unzipping the garment bag that had arrived that morning, Rukia pulled out the dress she had chosen with the help of her friends. It was long and form-fitting, made of thin midnight blue fabric that hung elegantly from her petite frame. The fabric had a bit of a shimmer to it, as if it had been sprinkled with star dust, and delicate silver embroidery accented the slit up one side. She admired it for a moment before slipping into it and pulling up the zipper. It fit perfectly; one of the advantages of using the holo-projector to make her decision. As this dress had been projected onto her body, the machine had automatically adjusted seams and taken measurements, which had been logged with the store to be altered by the tailor on site before the dress was delivered. It was all so very amazing, she thought, amazed by her reflection in the full-length mirror.

She laid a clean towel around her neck to protect the dress from spills as she did her makeup. A bit of powder, gloss, and a touch more eye definition than she would do normally. Then she pulled out the soft curlers that she had left in her hair overnight, fluffing out the gentle dark waves. A thin silver band pinned into her hair, a light pendant around her neck, and a pair of strappy heels, and she was ready.

Perfectly timed, there was a knock at the door. She exited to greet Renji, who was looking rather handsome in a perfectly fitted dark suit, with a blue tie to match her dress. His hair was low and tied back, with a few small braids elegantly entwined. Rukia smiled up at him, and gave his hair a quizzical look.

"Oh, Yumi did it," Renji said in response, "Said I can't go to this thing with my hair as its usual eyesore. His words."

Rukia nodded solemnly, grinned, and grabbed his arm. "Let's go meet everyone!" she said, happily tugging him down toward the car they were taking for the night.

Renji and Rukia pulled up to the hotel the dance was being held at in a car Rukia couldn't name beyond that it was sleek, black, and had defensive weapons integrated into the frame in places one wouldn't expect.

They met her friends in the lobby, where she introduced Renji to the group as her plus-one and childhood friend. The dance floor was still empty, seeing as they had arrived right on time, so the group stood around, drinking the sickly sweet bright red juice from the punch bowl, reminiscing about the years they'd spent together, pondering where the future might take them. Renji felt a bit awkward and out of place, as he'd never met any of these people before. Most of them eyed his tattoos, bright hair, and lean muscular build warily, probably wondering how the hell Rukia had grown up with him and remained friends the entire time.

"What school are you going to next year, Abarai-kun?" one of the girls had ventured to ask him.

"Uh, well, I haven't decided quite yet," he had answered.

They migrated to the dance floor once more people showed up. The loud music made his experience significantly less awkward, since now he wasn't standing around having to listen to people he didn't know talking about other people he didn't know and events he hadn't witnessed. The music was nothing special, just the top hits over the past year or so that he could hear on the radio any time he wanted, but it was loud enough that he could feel the bass pounding in his chest alongside his heart, and it was instinct to move along with it. Rukia smiled up at him, knowing to stay close, and her friends were mashed up in the crowd all around them, forming an amorphous blob linked by smiles, laughter, and the occasional attempt at shouting for communication.

He felt as if his heart might pound hard enough to explode when she caught his eye and smiled, her small hand encased in his. A stupid smile was sure to be plastered on his face, too.

The crowd slowly shifted as the songs changed, and their group steadily moved up closer to the front of the room where the speakers were. After an hour or so of solid dancing in the muggy room, Rukia dragged him off with part of the group to get air and more sweet punch, and while she laughed about something with the busty redhead and the guy with the glasses, the kid with the orange hair and the scowling face confronted him.

"You close to Rukia?"

"We grew up together," Renji answered noncommittally.

The boy's frown deepened, "What's been up with her lately?"

"Dunno what you mean."

"She's been acting strange."

"Well, her sister just died. It's been tough on her."

He didn't seem satisfied with that answer. "Something's wrong. And I don't think her sister is the entire answer."

Renji shrugged and drained his paper cup, "Whatever, man. She'll be fine. She's stronger than you think." He crumpled the empty cup, and turned to throw it away, but the guy grabbed him by the shoulder.

"How close to her are you really? We're her friends. Why have we never met you before?"

"It's complicated."

"So why has she never even mentioned you before, if you're so close?"

"Do you really think you know everything about her? About her life before she came here?" Renji retorted, staring the guy down.

He felt a hand at his waist. Rukia. He turned and saw faint suspicion painted on her features. "What's up? Renji? Ichigo?"

"Nothing," they both mumbled, which didn't satisfy her curiosity at all, and when the group returned to the dance floor, she grabbed Renji's arm again and pulled him along the wall until they reached a somewhat secluded corner near a window, away from the crowds of people.

"What did he want?" she demanded.

Renji sighed, "Just wanted to know how we know each other." She held his gaze, unconvinced, until he relented, "Fine, he also thought you've been acting strange lately."

"I knew it," she muttered, "Why can't he just mind his own damn business?"

"He's your friend," Renji heard himself saying, although he wasn't sure how much he liked the guy, "Of course he'd worry about you."

Rukia crossed her arms, frustrated, "Sometimes I wish he wouldn't."

"Hey," Renji said, placing his large hands on her narrow shoulders, "These are your friends. You're supposed to be having a good time tonight, yeah? We'll deal with this guy later. Let's go back," he jerked his head toward the crowd of dancers.

"Not yet," Rukia said, stopping him with a hand on his arm, "Not yet."

He turned to meet her eyes, mesmerized by the deep color of them. Part of his mind wondered when she had gotten so close to him, but most of him didn't care when it had happened; only that she was there, standing by the window with him. His hand found the gentle curve of her waist and pulled her closer, into a tender embrace. She shifted her head so she was looking up at him, a peaceful smile settled onto her features.

"Renji," she breathed, and he grinned, ecstatic that he was holding her.

He cradled the back of her head in one of his hands, gently angling her face back and leaning in-

Only to be interrupted by his phone ringing.

Startled into motion, Rukia moved away, dazed, and he fished the phone out of his pocket.

"What?" he answered it, irritated.

"Get back to the estate. There's been another attack."


	4. Chapter 4

**Electrical Impulses**

**Chapter Four**

Kuchiki Communications was a vast company; the largest communications company in the world, by virtue of Byakuya's monopoly on holo-projector technology. This meant that it was his networks and infrastructure that were being used worldwide, and all of that information that was exchanged had to, at some point, pass through his main database systems.

And, of course, he set up algorithms to process the data and alert him if anything of interest popped up. While some might argue over the morality of his systematic invasion of privacy, it wasn't technically illegal because of certain loopholes in the terms of the company's service agreement. It was no problem getting people to agree to those terms though; no one ever read actually read the text of those things.

Thus, Kuchiki Byakuya was the first to know, outside of involved parties, about an attack on the Ukitake family, very similar in nature to the attack on his own.

He got in contact with Soi Fon, the investigator he had hired, immediately, and she was on site within moments gather information and question witnesses. Byakuya was somewhat impressed.

Rukia was pounding on his office door next, and didn't bother waiting for a response before bursting in.

"Nii-sama! Are you alright?"

He raised an eyebrow at her, amused, and nodded. She belatedly realized her mistake, but as her brother did not seem angry, asked, "But... Another attack?"

"On the Ukitake estate, this time."

Rukia gasped, "Ukitake-san!" She had met the man a few times when Byakuya had business dealings with him, and had taken a liking to his kind, serene nature. "Is _he _alright?"

"Ukitake is fine. He was ill again, and was resting in a different part of the house. The only casualty was his assistant, who was visiting to check up on him."

"Oh," Rukia murmured, still saddened, but, as she was having trouble remembering the man's face, not quite as distraught, "Was it the same people who..."

"I have an investigator on-site to figure that out," he said, "You should get some rest. Your graduation is tomorrow morning, and that is not something you want to be tired for."

She blinked, surprised, "We're still going?"

Byakuya nodded, "Though we will bring additional security, of course."

It was not a restful night for Byakuya. He stayed awake, waiting on the sporadic reports from Soi Fon. She had managed to acquire copies of Ukitake's security recordings, which Byakuya reviewed extensively into the night. It was all too similar to the attack on him to be mere coincidence. The initial intruder, this time disguised as a delivery boy, entered, placed a small metallic object (likely a transmitter of some sort), and quietly slithered out. The humanoid robots appeared mysteriously moments later. Brief carnage, then the robots and the device disappeared.

The perpetrator behaved the same, keeping his face hidden from the cameras at all times; looked about the same, average height, skinny build, blond; same cautiousness, same gait. There was an especially frustrating moment when Shiba Kaien stopped to chat with him a moment, laughed over something, and pointed him towards a staircase. Poor fool. Poor, dead, fool.

He had allowed himself a couple hours of rest, a break from watching and rewatching the footage, hoping for some clue he had missed. There was nothing new waiting for his attention when he awoke, which simultaneously was and was not a relief. Over a morning cup of tea, he had his systems increase his levels of histamines for more wakefulness, and added a slight edge of epinephrine to keep himself alert. He was really getting used to his systems, and enjoyed the greater control over his body and its reactions, as well as his ability to acquire and process vast amounts of information in short order. Control freak, indeed.

Finishing the tea, he set the empty cup down silently and closed his eyes. If there were any security concerns today, he would take care of them. The defensive systems Yoruichi had installed were fully operational as of three days ago, and he had practiced with the controls several times thus far.

He and Yoruichi had designed it together. It was a weapon unlike any other in the world: multitudes of tiny blades with propulsion systems. Yoruichi was a bit wary of starting the project, as there would be difficulties fashioning the motors, circuitry, and battery power needed on such a small scale, but Byakuya insisted, so she found herself up for the task. They ended up with a very elegant, but somewhat underpowered result. It was simply impossible to include power sources large enough for long flight times while still generating enough lift for the blades to still be maneuverable, so Yoruichi contented herself with warning Byakuya to recharge them frequently, and making up for the lack of endurance with quantity. The blades were housed behind panels in his arms and one of his legs, lined up in orderly docking and charging stations. The other leg was occupied by a plasma cannon, because Yoruichi had refused to work on his defensive systems unless he agreed to something more reliable than the thousands of tiny battery-powered blades.

The system was becoming more intuitive as he practiced with it; each blade was equipped with a wireless transmitter, and he could control them individually or in mass with a simple thought.

He quietly removed one sleeve of his robe - no sense in ruining good clothes unless necessary, after all - told the panels to open, and launched the rows of blades. They hovered and fluttered delicately through the air at his direction, controlled by his thoughts translated to signal transmissions. The blades circled around him for several minutes, glinting softly in the morning light, before he called them back; one by one they snapped back into place in the crevice in his palm, and once all the blades were back and charging, the metal panels concealing them slid back over.

Good; everything was in working order. This would be a suitable last recourse if the graduation proved troublesome.

Two dark cars carried the Kuchikis and various security personnel to the auditorium the graduation was to be held at. Renji accompanied Byakuya to the seating area for family and friends, while Ikkaku escorted Rukia to the waiting area for the graduates. They had decided that it would draw unnecessary attention for Renji to accompany Rukia as a bodyguard when he had previously been introduced to others as her friend, and Ikkaku could be intimidating in a way that would dissuade questions. Except maybe from that Ichigo kid, Renji thought, he didn't seem to give a shit about what might be prudent.

Seeing her friends gathered in a circle, waiting, Rukia hurried over to them. Ikkaku followed, eyeing the other nearby students suspiciously. As she got closer, Rukia had to hide a giggle. Most of her friends looked awful.

"Crazy afterparty?" she asked, approaching.

"Oh god, you don't even know," lamented Momo. Her appearance was as impeccable as it always was, although she looked a bit paler than usual and cringed at loud noises as if she had a headache.

Hitsugaya, standing next to her, gave Momo a look as if to say, _Well, what did you expect? _He looked mostly normal, but that made sense; he didn't drink, and was likely to have left any party at a reasonably early hour.

The others looked to be in varying states of tiredness and disarray. Rukia made a mental note to stay away from Keigo for a while, as he still looked as if he were about to puke; Orihime was leaning on Tatsuki for support, barely able to keep her eyes open, and Tatsuki looked exhausted as well, with dark circles under her eyes. Ishida was uncharacteristically dishevelled, which Rukia suspected was due to the crazy ideas Orihime came up with once she'd had a couple of drinks. She'd once dragged the whole group of them out to run around the city in the middle of the night and pose as statues, claiming that if they stood in certain arrangements that it would facilitate communication with alternate dimensions.

"So how was your night, Rukia? You left pretty early with that redhead, huh?" Ichigo asked, his tone tense.

Ikkaku turned his attention in their direction very conspicuously. This could be interesting. Rukia glared at him, frantically wondering what the hell kind of rumors were going around the security division.

"What? No, it wasn't like that!" Rukia insisted, flustered, "Nii-sama wanted me home. One of his business contacts was attacked last night, and he was worrying about me."

Ichigo frowned, but then, he was usually frowning, so Rukia wasn't sure that meant anything.

Byakuya and Renji were seated in the auditorium, waiting for the ceremony to start. Jazzy music was playing quietly over the speakers, just audible over the murmur of voices in the room.

"Ah, Byakuya-san," they heard approaching them. Ukitake Juushiro sat down in the seat next to Byakuya, a cheerful smile on his face. His two guards sat down in the row behind them.

"Ukitake-san. Why are you here?" Byakuya asked bluntly.

"Oh, I just had to come see Rukia graduate. Such a wonderful young lady," Ukitake replied, watching the lack of action onstage contentedly, "Definitely one to be proud of."

After a brief stretch of silence, he turned back to face Byakuya, "I understand the investigator on my estate yesterday was under your employ?"

Byakuya nodded; there was no use in denying it.

"I find myself wondering why you have taken an interest in these affairs," Ukitake said casually.

The music in the auditorium changed to the processional, announcing the entrance of the graduating class. Ukitake, Byakuya, and their guards clapped politely amidst the enthusiastic cheering of other audience members. Byakuya made no move to offer an answer to Ukitake's inquiry.

"It's unusual, isn't it... To have a private investigator at the scene of the crime so quickly, when the incident had nothing to do with you. I can imagine that you would feel protective towards those who are close to you, but I don't believe I fall into that category. Not that it wouldn't be flattering, of course, but I really just... doubt it," Ukitake trailed off, watching the graduates take their seats and the first speaker, the school's principal, begin. "Byakuya," he said quietly, "Hisana-san didn't really die of illness, did she?"

Again, no use in lying to the man, if he'd already gone through enough effort to work it out. "How did you know?"

"Kotetsu Isane-san, a young doctor doing her residency under Dr. Unohana," Juushiro explained, "She has been doing my check-ups lately, and was so shocked and confused when Hisana-san passed. She said she couldn't think of any disease that Hisana-san might have had, that she was in perfect health. That, plus your mysterious disappearance for two weeks, plus your investigation of the attack on my estate, plus the increased security around Rukia... I simply put the pieces together. Were the attacks similar to each other?"

"Almost identical."

"I see. And you won't report anything to the police?"

Byakuya shook his head slightly, "The standards of evidence required to get a conviction are very high, and our criminal is very smart. The law can't help us here."

Ukitake nodded, considering. The principal still hadn't stopped talking. This was going to be a long ceremony.

He sighed, "If there's anything I can help you with, Byakuya, please let me know. I want to see this guy get caught, too."

"I will bear that in mind."

As usual, Yumichika was put on surveillance and communication duty, with a side of babysitting. The back seat of one of the cars had been transformed into a mobile surveillance station, displaying video feed from the tiny cameras embedded into the sunglasses each member of the security team was wearing. He could also communicate with each of them individually, and Renji was currently taking advantage of that fact by forcing him to listen to particularly cheesy segments of the "motivational" speeches. Ikkaku was bitching about having to hang out with a bunch of high school kids. Zaraki was prowling around the auditorium, probably getting lost and intimidating the hell out of the other guests. Yachiru was sitting in the seat next to him, being her usual hyperactive self.

Yumi wanted to pull his hair out. No, he actually didn't want to pull his hair out, because that wouldn't make anything better. It would only make things worse.

When he wasn't listening to the inane babble coming through his communicator or stopping Yachiru from doing something to blow up the car's engine, he was keeping an eye on two suspicious figures in the parking lot.

One was a guy sitting alone in a car in the next row. It was suspicious because, c'mon, who came to a high school graduation and sat in the car for the whole thing? Granted, the ceremony was insanely boring, as Renji was so benevolently pointing out to him, and it wasn't like Yumi wasn't sitting in a car through the whole thing too... But the list of legitimate reasons for doing so were few, and Yumi doubted the other guy was also a wayward security guard.

The second was a dark, vaguely human shape sitting in a nearby tree. Yumi had practically scoffed when he noticed it. Who, besides bored delinquent preteens, regularly sat around in trees? And for two hours? It wasn't exactly subtle, but whoever it was hadn't moved, so most people probably wouldn't notice unless they were looking for discrepancies. Which was something Yumi was trained to do, and to do very well.

Yachiru was making fun of his choice in cosmetics now. Which wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't something he heard _every single fucking day_. God. Spending extensive time with small children ought to be a mandatory part of sex-ed classes these days.

He passed Yachiru a wrapped salt water taffy to shut her up as something weird started coming over the communicator. Some sort of glitch in the signal, sounded almost like a robotic voice attempting to yodel, interspersed with static and autotuned.

It stopped, and an unfamiliar woman's voice came through. Yumi couldn't quite make out what she was saying, because Yachiru had worked her way through the first piece of sticky candy, so he quickly passed the rest of the bag over so he could actually get something productive done in this shithole of a day.

"...Kuchiki security force?" was all he caught this time around.

"Repeat that? I've got a sugar-loaded kid in the car."

An impatient huff, "I've been hired by Byakuya Kuchiki to track down his assailant. Are you part of Kuchiki's security force?"

"Ah, yes, yes I am. Are you the guy in the car or the guy in the tree?"

She paused, then, "The tree. I received word of a man turning himself in to the police this morning, claiming to be behind the attacks on the Kuchiki and Ukitake families. The police thought he was an impostor, because they have no knowledge of the attack on the Kuchikis. I think it is almost certain he is linked to this in some way."

"He's the guy in the other car, then? Knew something fishy was up with him."

"There is the possibility that he will attempt another attack as people start to exit the auditorium."

"It wouldn't be too smart to try and get him now, on our own, you've seen the kind of damage that shit can do, right?"

"Agreed, but we can't call for backup now without alerting him."

"Yeah, our head of security isn't exactly subtle. So we're gonna have to have the rest of our team come out in formation with the family, and we'll keep watching this guy, and stop him if he makes a move."

"That was my plan, too."

"I'll let everyone else know what's up then," Yumi switched frequencies to get in touch with Renji, "Hey, how long 'til this thing's over?"

"Fucked if I know man, we've been sitting here for two _hours _and they've just now started calling names."

"Shit, sucks. Er, we've got a bit of a situation going on here. Some guy in the parking lot who may or may not be waiting for Kuchiki to come out. I'll alert Zaraki and Ikkaku to meet up with you and be prepared on exiting the building, and I'll be keeping an eye on the guy in case he tries something."

"Fuck. Sounds good though. They're about at the Fs now, and then the program says there's an ending speaker, and then the... reces- Wait, wait... Change of plans. We're taking off right after Rukia gets called. Avoid the crowds, and all."

"Let me know before you start moving out."

"Will do."

"I can walk across the stage by myself, Ikkaku," Rukia insisted as the alphabet got closer and closer to _K_.

"I don't think your brother would be too happy with that."

"It's not like the President of the Board of Education is gonna stab me when I shake his hand."

"It's always the ones you least expect."

Rukia was getting frustrated, now, "Ichigo will be _right_after me. I'll be fine." The girl ahead of her was called. "Please, Ikkaku?"

He suddenly looked distracted, fishing a communicator out of a pocket, "Fine, Yumi's trying to say something, and it sounds important."

"Kuchiki Rukia."

Smiling triumphantly, Rukia stepped out onto the platform, waved at the member of the school's media club who was recording the event, and walked forward to shake hands with the line of school officials. "Congratulations," they each said to her, probably bored out of their skulls from having to say that to every single kid in the district. She smiled graciously at them, accepted her diploma at the end of the line, and posed for the professional photographer. Ikkaku was waiting for her at the other end of the stage, grabbed her arm, and started walking her out.

"Change in plans, we're getting out now. There may be a dangerous situation waiting for us, and it would be worse with a crowd."

"...Okay?" Rukia waved a goodbye to Ichigo, who was just arriving backstage.

"What's going on this time?"

"No big deal," Rukia called back, "I'll text you or something later, alright?"

"Are you even coming to Inoue's graduation party after?"

"Can't say yet, sorry!" She would have to apologize to Orihime later for not being able to attend. Life had become complicated of late.

She and Ikkaku emerged into the lobby, where the others were waiting for them. Rukia was surprised to see Ukitake standing there with her brother. He shook her hand, congratulated her, and handed her a small wrapped gift as Renji radioed for Yumichika to bring the car around.

"Open it later," he told her, "Things are a little hectic right now."

That was an understatement. "Thank you," she said, tucking it into her graduation robes, "I didn't realize you were coming today."

They were all distracted by Renji pointing out to the parking lot, "Look, look."

Yumichika was pulling up in the car, but there was a man walking towards them from the same direction.

"That's him, he's following me," Yumi's voice was saying over the communicator, "But _she's_following him, in the trees."

"She?"

"Didn't get her name, some investigator."

"Soi Fon," Byakuya supplied.

"Ah, the young woman who questioned me?" Ukitake asked.

Byakuya nodded.

Rukia was searching the trees for the mysterious investigator, but didn't find her before she leaped out of one, tackling the suspect to the asphalt. She gasped, shocked, and Zaraki burst through the lobby doors toward the two. Byakuya and Ikkaku followed shortly, and she just barely saw Yumi jumping out of the car before Renji herded her further into the building, away from the windows.

"What the fuck is happening?" she asked him, astonished.

"I don't really know everything, but... That guy might have something to do with the attacks."

"Might? You guys are going around tackling people because of a _might?_"

"Look, I don't know all the details, we were kinda rushed getting this all together, okay?"

Rukia relented. "What now, then?"

"We wait. I'm not leaving you by yourself now that shit's going down."

Soi Fon collided with the man, knocking him over easily. The impact with the asphalt was rough, but she had angled her attack so that they rolled together several times to lose momentum. She was sitting on top of him, holding his arms together behind his back when the others started running up.

Zaraki was the first to arrive. "Is that really him?" he asked, bending over to inspect the man's face, "He's kind of scrawny, isn't he?"

The man jerked his head away from Zaraki's gaze, but said nothing. He wasn't trying to resist Soi Fon either, and she had his wrists cuffed and was upright again as the others approached. Zaraki picked him up off the ground for Byakuya's inspection.

"I'm sorry," he said, recognizing the head of the Kuchiki family, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to- I didn't know. I'm sorry-"

Byakuya cut him off, "Why?"

"Testing. I thought it was just a test, to see if our method worked, I didn't know they were going to," a pained look crossed the man's face, "to- to _kill _people. I never- I didn't... mean..."

"What is your name?"

"Kira Izuru."

"And who do you work for?"

"Ichimaru Gin... And Aizen Sousuke."

**A/N: Thanks again for reviews and favorites! Hope you enjoy :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**Electrical Impulses**

**Chapter Five**

Ichimaru Gin... That was a name Byakuya would have to look up, but Aizen Sousuke he had heard of. The man was a bit of a joke in certain circles, actually. He had wanted to pioneer the space minerals movement, but apparently was either depending on the development of new technology (which hadn't happened) or had failed to consider a number of important details: the cost of space travel, transport speeds. Sure, there were tons, in the literal sense, of raw minerals just waiting to be mined in the asteroid belt, but with traveling time reaching into _years_ each way... It just wasn't economically feasible. For one, the cost of launching one vessel into space - let alone ten, as Aizen had done - was prohibitively expensive. Space shuttles were still powered by fossil fuels, which were scarce and expensive; space ventures were one of the few industries that had not made the switch to nuclear power, in part because it was just plain stupid to launch a nuclear reactor into the atmosphere and risk failure. In addition to the ridiculously high start-up costs, a company would have to survive eight to ten years waiting for the first shipment of raw material to arrive on earth, and it didn't look as if Aizen would last that long. He had launched his fleet into space three years ago, and already there were rumors of imminent bankruptcy.

Byakuya quickly ran a search on Ichimaru Gin. The webpage for Aizen Industries displayed over the left half of his vision. Ichimaru was listed as the vice-president in charge of transportation research, but didn't go into any more detail on what kind of research that was. No matter. They would take Kira into custody and get answers out of him. He didn't look like he would be a difficult interrogation subject. Byakuya motioned for Zaraki to put the man into the car, watched as the bulk of his security team piled in, Kira sandwiched between Zaraki and Ikkaku in the backseat. He did not envy him.

A message to Renji that it was safe to bring Rukia out, and they exited the building shortly to join Byakuya, Ukitake, and his two guards.

"He was involved with the attacks," Byakuya informed them, "He is being taken back to the estate for questioning. We should leave quickly, before the graduation lets out." He turned and walked towards where the second car was parked.

"Byakuya," Ukitake was following them, "If you're going to be questioning him, I would like to be present."

"Trying to ensure I will not kill him?" Byakuya kept walking, not looking in Ukitake's direction, "That is unnecessary. I would rather kill the heads of the operation. Their pawn does not interest me, beyond the information he can provide."

"Still... He looked young. Idealistic. The type of person who would idolize a superior and ask no questions. He's just now getting his first taste of the real world. I think we have all been him, at some point."

Byakuya gave Ukitake a glance before climbing into the car, "Do as you wish."

The questioning was easier than expected. Kira was very compliant, answering all of their questions in detail.

Ichimaru Gin was the head of transportations research at Aizen Industries, having joined the company in its infancy. He had been trying to discover a better, faster method of transport for the tons of raw material that Aizen's company would need to ship, and had delved into research on teleportation of late (Byakuya had scoffed at this, only to be shushed by Ukitake).

Kira had come to the company in the winter as an intern, needing an industry experience credit before he could graduate the next year. Gin had been on the verge of producing something remarkable, and had gone into primary testing within the next months. The finished product was a pair of transmitters. When there was a clear line of sight between the two, one device would energize and deconstruct the matter to be transported and send it to the receiver in a near-lightspeed, high-energy beam. From there, it was simply a matter of encoding the original structure of the material into the receiver so that the item could be reconstructed properly. It was incredibly expensive to produce the amount of energy needed for this process, but it was a step in the right direction. Eventually, Aizen wanted the research team to be able to teleport human workers to adequately man his mining rigs, but that technology was still far from being perfected.

Gin had apparently taken some sort of a liking to Kira, and offered to give him a larger role in the testing. Just to make it a bit more fun, Gin had decided to involve outside parties. A good-natured practical joke, of sorts, to announce Aizen Industries's success to the rest of the world. Kira would sneak into a heavily guarded area, plant a transmitter/receiver combination device, and get out. The device would beam in a riddle to be found and solved, then the device itself would be beamed back to headquarters. A little mystery to place before the world.

Kira had no idea what was really going on until he saw the news reports of the destruction at Ukitake's. Then all the little things that had seemed fishy along the way became glaringly obvious. Why it was crucial that he be off the grounds and far away before the transmission was initiated. Why Ichimaru was so secretive about the exact contents of the riddle. Why two heavily guarded, practically impenetrable locations had been chosen. Kira had his suspicions about where the transmissions had actually come from as well- the line of sight requirement made it obvious to him that a transmitter must have been launched into space at some point, perhaps launched to the original fleet Aizen had sent off those three years ago. What was actually on those ships - codenamed Espada - was anyone's guess, as were the motives behind Aizen's apparent thirst for destruction.

Byakuya had a lot to think about and very little time to do it in. Thanks to Kira, he knew the location of their headquarters and had floorplans. How complete those floorplans were was debatable, but they were better than nothing. He was not going to wait for another attack; Byakuya was going to strike first, and decisively.

"Hey, Rukia," Renji said later that night from his usual position outside her door, "I think your brother's up to something."

"He usually is," she answered. Renji had just recapped the interrogation for her, and she was very busy ignoring Ichigo's inquiring texts.

"I think he's gonna kill these people," Renji said seriously.

Rukia laughed, "Of course he is. He already told me as much."

"Crazy."

"Yep."

They didn't speak for a moment, both pondering the situation.

"I think he needs closure," Rukia said hesitantly, "And going through the legal pathways won't get it for him. Is that so wrong?"

"Dunno," Renji replied, pondering, "Do you need closure?"

Rukia laughed bitterly, "Can't say. I haven't been to a therapist yet. Probably, though."

"So what's next?"

"I have a few people I want to visit. Can you get me out of here for that?"

The first stop the pair made was to the suite of rooms Kira was occupying until Byakuya deemed it safe enough for him to go back to his regular life. Ikkaku was set to keep an eye on him, as Dr. Unohana was afraid the guilt he obviously felt for his involvement in the attacks would start to manifest itself in self harm.

"Sure, go on ahead, he's kind of a downer though," Ikkaku said, waving them on into the room.

They sat down with Kira at a small table in his rooms. He looked nervous to be with the pair of them, his eyes darting back and forth between the two as if he couldn't decide who to be more wary of, and apologies were spilling forth from his mouth just as profusely as before.

"It's alright," Rukia said at last, "I know you didn't mean to. It was a misunderstanding, a mistake."

The blond man looked even more ashamed at that. "It's a mistake I never should have made. I should have seen it, there were so many little things I should have been suspicious of..."

"I don't know if it makes any difference, but nee-san wouldn't have held it against you. She was wonderful, and I loved her, but she made plenty of mistakes too. She always said as long as you learn from them and become a better person, there's no shame in making mistakes."

"She never made a mistake as big as this," Kira muttered darkly.

"She abandoned me, when I was just a baby," Rukia said softly, "She found me again, eventually, but she felt guilt over that for the rest of her life. I don't hold it against her. And I don't hold your mistakes against you. It wasn't your fault."

Kira didn't say anything, didn't meet her eyes.

"Hey, we should get going," Renji nudged her gently with his elbow.

"Alright."

They stood up. "You're not the bad guy," Rukia said, brushing her hand lightly over Kira's as they left.

Byakuya sat in a little cafe across the street from the main offices of Aizen Industries. He had spent next to no time preparing for his departure back at the estate, preferring to act quickly, before the enemy became aware of his movement. From here, he could watch for any suspicious activity, as well as poke around in Aizen's security systems. It was taking a long time to break in to, which was only to be expected from a criminal of this scale. Byakuya was pretty sure he had worked out Aizen's encryption algorithms though, so now it was just a matter of decoding one of the logged passcodes and...

He was in. Security feeds and energy usage charts were there at his fingertips, and a bit more digging got him blueprints, research logs, transaction records. There were several levels of basement that Kira had been unaware of, for example, and those levels used up a surprising amount of energy. Something was definitely going on down there. He stood up. Time to get moving. He left money on the table for his untouched coffee and crossed the street, preparing loops for the security cameras that would conceal his entrance.

Entering the building was easy; he ensured the security feed was replaying boring segments of inactivity from minutes earlier in whatever hallway he was walking through. He made his way to an elevator, deciding to go up to the top floors where the transportation department was, in hopes of encountering one Ichimaru Gin.

The elevator ride was uneventful and the halls on the top floor nondescript. Byakuya made his way towards one of the labs, in which the security feeds showed Ichimaru to be lurking. He pushed the door open quietly and entered, only to see the silver-haired man sitting atop a cabinet, watching him.

"Ah, welcome, welcome, Kuchiki-san," he said, leaping gracefully down to the floor, "I take it you are here to put an end to this operation?"


	6. Chapter 6

**Electrical Impulses **

**Chapter Six**

Byakuya didn't speak, simply released a few of the little blades from his arm. They burst through the fabric of his shirtsleeve easily and circled around Gin threateningly, a couple darting closer to make shallow, superficial cuts in the man's skin.

"It seems I am correct," he mused, "Why don't we calm down a little, Kuchiki-san. Take a couple of steps back, before you do something rash."

Byakuya let his formation of flying blades relax a bit, giving Ichimaru a bit more room, though he did not recall the blades. "Then speak."

"Have you knocked out the security cameras yet?" At the shake of Byakuya's head, Gin continued, "Well, we should probably do so soon. Aizen will be catching on that something's up soon, and it's better that there are no recordings of this. I assume you have questions?"

Byakuya nodded, uncertain of what to make of Ichimaru, "What does Aizen want?"

"Ah, you get straight to the point, don't you? Hmm, the usual, I think. World domination, and all that. Your standard super-villain fare."

"What's in the basement?"

"A large-scale production and storage facility for military-grade robotic invasion drones. The same ones that we teleported onto your household." Ichimaru's grin broadened as Byakuya's circling blades tightened their trajectories in response, "See, this is why I'm glad we chose you. You have a bit of a vengeful spirit behind that stony face. I never would have gotten anywhere if we'd stuck with attacking people like Ukitake. No fun in that."

"What do you want?" Byakuya asked coldly.

"What do _I_ want? I just want to bring Aizen down. Bastard's crazy. You know he wants me to develop a way to teleport living beings, so he can _invade earth with his army from space?_All because he wants to be some sort of god, forcing humanity to bow and grovel at his feet. He needs to be stopped, and provoking you was the only way I could do that without arousing suspicion."

Byakuya stood silently for a moment, mulling that over, then nodded.

"Can we get on our way then? I'll take you down to Aizen, so you can put him to his end."

They rode down to the basements in the service elevator. Byakuya recalled his blades, as was prudent in such a small space, but also because the effort of sustaining their flight was taking a harsher toll on his batteries than expected. Gin tapped away at a panel in the corner for a moment, and Byakuya felt the security cameras throughout the building disable. He wouldn't have to continually doctor the feed anymore, which was good, because the constant transmissions were taking up more energy than he was comfortable with.

The doors opened again on a spacious storage room filled with orderly ranks of robot soldiers standing at a perfectly still attention. It was eerie and disenheartening to see them in multitudes; the odds weren't good that he and Ichimaru (provided the man was actually on his side) could take down Aizen and his robot army.

This was going to be tricky, no doubt about it. Even if Ichimaru could be trusted - and that was a big _if_- they would still have a lot of trouble. The fox-faced man didn't appear to have any weapons on him or any way of disabling the robots, and then there was Aizen to deal with. Byakuya had no idea what to expect of the mysterious Aizen; he had to be smart to be the mastermind behind this entire plot. Deranged, but smart.

Footsteps were approaching. Presumably Aizen, so some of those questions should be answered very soon. A figure appeared at the other end of the long room, visible between the robot ranks.

"So you have betrayed me, Gin," he said, not sounding at all surprised, or even interested, "And who is this you've brought down here? Kuchiki Byakuya, is it? What an honor." His voice did not indicate that he placed much value in this honor.

"Aizen Sousuke. What is the meaning of this?" Byakuya leveled a steely gaze at the man across the room, but the effect was ruined by the sharp _ding_of the elevator behind him. He shifted his body slightly so that he could keep both Aizen and the opening elevator in his vision.

"Nii-sama!" Rukia exclaimed, her eyes wide in surprise. Renji ushered her out of the elevator before the doors shut on them, balancing a large, bulky cylinder wrapped in what appeared to be bandages in his other arm. It looked suspiciously like one of the experimental weapons Byakuya had seen lying around the last time he had visited Yoruichi and Urahara on their own premises. He would have to have a word with the two of them later.

"What are you two doing here?" Byakuya asked.

"We're here to help, of course," Renji answered.

"And you decided to help by dragging my sister into a highly dangerous situation?"

"It was my idea, nii-sama," Rukia interjected, "Well, mostly."

Aizen cleared his throat, "_The meaning of this_is to make the world bow down before me. I can transport my armies anywhere on the planet. Imagine the fear I will strike into the hearts of mankind, when the all of the world's strongholds are attacked simultaneously. I will be revered. I will be worshipped. I will rule. You are merely insects in my path."

His gaze darkened ominously. "Open fire," he commanded, and the robots sprung to life.

Byakuya immediately launched the little blades from his palm. They darted out into the room, and he handled them with quick precision. The bullets headed towards them were the same nasty self-igniting ones as before, but quick hits from his aerial blades could send them off-course. It required a lot of concentration, but he was holding the bullets off with his array of tiny flying blades, and none of the group had been hit yet. The impacts were taking his blades out quickly, and he had to release the blades from his second arm to replenish his forces; and then, shortly after, he was forced to release the blades from his leg.

"Look out," Renji called, firing the weapon he had been carrying. It was some sort of rocket launcher, and the shell it fired exploded on contact with the ground just ahead of the robot ranks.

Dust filled the air, and they heard several smaller delayed explosions in the next anxious seconds, "Their batteries," Rukia whispered, realizing.

The batteries. That would be the simplest way to immobilize thousands of murderous robots while still escaping alive. Byakuya prepared for the dust to settle; while it had interfered enough with the robots' tracking mechanisms to stop them firing, he also needed the visibility so he could send his blades in to cut power lines. Any time advantage he had would be crucial, because it took all of his concentration to stop the bullets...

There. His blades darted out, cutting circuits, severing power lines. The first few robots went down, and more followed in quick succession. They were firing again, but they must have been confused somehow; they weren't firing at the group, they were firing at one of the side walls... No matter, he'd take the advantage to clear out as many of them as he possibly could.

He had disabled a huge portion of the oncoming army when he heard Rukia scream, "Ichimaru-san!" She was pointing at the robots' target, "H-he- He just r-ran out..."

Well. That was unfortunate. Byakuya couldn't bring himself to care terribly much; after all, Ichimaru had orchestrated the attack that had killed Hisana, so it only seemed fitting that the man should meet his end in the same manner. Besides, Byakuya had more important things to worry about, like his dwindling battery life and deflecting the bullets that were coming back in their direction now that Ichimaru had fallen. There were very few of his flying blades left now, but the powerless robot bodies had piled up around the room to the point where the remaining fighters were bottlenecking between the giant mounds of disabled machinery.

"Stop!" Aizen commanded, as he rose on what appeared to be a floating platform to a point where he could look down upon their little group over the wall of dismantled robots. Byakuya wryly thought that the platform was a nice touch, from a deranged supervillain wannabe with a god complex. "Give in to me," Aizen offered, "and I will allow you to watch as I wreak destruction upon the world."

"No fucking way!" Renji shouted, attempting to fire his launcher at Aizen a second time. Nothing happened.

"You have to reload, _idiot_," Rukia hissed.

Aizen cast a look of disdain upon them, and spoke again to Byakuya, "It seems you are running out of options. Unless you have more little blades in that other leg of yours."

"I do not."

"I thought not."

"But I do have this," Byakuya said tonelessly, raising his knee up to aim at the densely packed robots standing before him, and charging the plasma cannon contained within for a moment before firing.

A great explosion of light and a wave of heat swept through the room as Byakuya discharged massive amounts of energy into the masses of enemies. When her vision had recovered from the brief assault on her retinas, Rukia saw that Byakuya had slumped over onto the floor.

"Nii-sama," Rukia exclaimed, rushing to her brother's side.

"What, his batteries run out too?" Renji asked, exasperated.

Rukia checked his pulse. He was still alive, and seemed to simply be unconscious. "Probably. We should get out of here."

Renji helped her drag Byakuya's body into the elevator, where she frantically pressed the buttons. "It's not moving," she hissed.

Part of the mound of dead robots started to disappear, and Aizen walked through the gap, holding one of the transmitting devices. Once he was through, he tossed it to the ground, where it continued to warp away the mechanical bodies. The beam of energized matter went to another transmitter sunk into the wall next to the elevator shaft, which redirected the beam up through the shaft and out into space.

"I've called them off, for the time being. This is your only chance to give in to me," Aizen said, glancing in their direction before casting his eyes towards Gin, "Oh, and I've disabled the elevator's functionality for the time being. You really have no choice."

"What are we going to do?" Rukia whispered frantically, "We can't beat him."

"I don't know," Renji whispered back, running his free hand through her hair. He pressed a quick kiss to her forehead, "This probably won't work, but... Maybe it'll get you out of here safely."

"What?" she protested, as he pushed the rocket launcher into her hands and turned towards Aizen, "Don't you even _think_about doing anything stupid."

He ignored her. "Aizen!" he called, "Fight me. One on one."

Aizen laughed at him, not moving from his inspection of Gin.

"Will you let her go if I fight you?"

"No," Aizen chuckled, "But it was good of you to try, boy. I never thought I would hear something so... misguidedly chivalrous in my life."

Renji rushed at him, fist readied to smash into Aizen's face, but the man deflected it as soon as Renji got close. Grabbing Renji by the shoulders, Aizen wrenched him into the air, flipped him, and slammed him down onto the concrete on his back. Renji couldn't move, gasping in pain and shock.

"You fool," Aizen said coldly.

Renji saw something moving at the edge of his vision. It was Ichimaru. While Aizen was distracted, he stood, and now he was grabbing Aizen from behind and swinging him around towards the transmitter's energy stream.

"Gin," Aizen said, shocked.

"Can't just let you do this," he replied, shoving Aizen into the transmitter. His body started deconstructing immediately.

"Traitor. _Kill them!_" Aizen commanded the robots, just before his head disappeared, disassembled atom by atom and blasted off into space.

"Renji!" Rukia yelled, "Grab Ichimaru-san and get your ass over here!" She held the rocket launcher ready to fire, and Renji wasted no time in physically picking up the injured man and hurrying back to the elevator.

The robots were just beginning to emerge through the gap in the wreckage when Rukia fired. Renji and Ichimaru collapsed into the elevator a moment later, and the doors slid shut. They heard a huge explosion supplemented by the smaller explosions of the piled up batteries.

"Can you, er, disable the disabling?" Renji asked Gin, "So we can get back to the surface?"

"Yes," he said, propping himself up to enter security codes into the elevator's control panel.

"Are you alright?" Rukia asked quietly, eyeing Ichimaru's wounds.

"We'll see."

"...Is he dead?"

"Aizen? Yes. My machine... It can disassemble and reassemble anything you want, very precisely, down to the individual atom... But life is more than just the structure. It's very complex, a series of chemical reactions and electrical impulses. And there's no one in the world who knows how to restart it, once it's stopped."

"Good."

The elevator lurched into motion, rising up to the surface again.


	7. Chapter 7

**Electrical Impulses**

**Chapter Seven**

Renji and Rukia laid Byakuya down on his bed and fished the charging cable out of his wrist. Rukia thought the moment would be humorous if she wasn't so worried about her brother. He was still breathing and was still very much alive, but she still worried... What if those eyes never opened again?

She plugged the cord into the wall outlet. Byakuya's eyelids fluttered. She relaxed.

Renji had dragged over a couple of chairs for them to sit in while they waited for Byakuya to wake up. Rukia sat in hers and scooted closer to Renji's so she could lean her head up against his shoulder. It had been one hell of a hectic night.

Once they had escaped the explosions and made it to the ground floor, Gin had detonated something in his upper laboratory, saying it was best to "dispose of the evidence." They had parted ways outside the main doors of the building, despite Rukia's protests that Ichimaru should get to a doctor.

"I'll see to it later," he had said as he disappeared into the shadows, "For now, there's someone I need to see."

Renji and Rukia were then occupied by getting Byakuya home safely and discreetly. They'd quickly returned their borrowed weapon to Urahara's shop, then sped off towards the Kuchiki estate. On their way home, they heard a news broadcast that the building that had formerly housed Aizen Industries had completely collapsed. The announcer described the way the building had fallen in on itself neatly, as if it were done by a professional demolition team. Investigators were on scene to determine the cause of the collapse.

After that, they had to be careful in order to get back into the estate without running into any guards. It would be crucial to get Byakuya back to a power source as quickly as possible, and Renji didn't want to waste time now with awkward explanations. They would be caught on camera and he would have to answer to someone eventually, he knew, but hopefully Kuchiki would be awake by then and would give an official story.

He wrapped an arm around Rukia and pulled her close, and they sat in a comfortable, if exhausted, silence. Byakuya was still breathing steadily; his eyes were still fluttering periodically, indicating his ascent into consciousness. Was he dreaming now? Did he still have dreams, with half of his brain a supercomputer?

By the time Byakuya finally awoke, the sun had risen and Rukia had long since fallen asleep in Renji's arms.

"Kuchiki-sama," Renji acknowledged, stifling a yawn.

"What happened?" Byakuya asked, pushing himself to a sitting position, alarmed.

"Don't worry about it. We're fine. Aizen's dead. The building blew up," Renji summarized.

"Though I must commend you for your succinctness, I find that I want more details."

Rukia stirred at his voice, stretching with a slight yawn.

"Have you two been sitting here all night?"

"Yeah basically," Renji answered, as Rukia opened her eyes.

"Nii-sama? Nii-sama!" She sat up, "I was so worried..."

"I am fine, Rukia," Byakuya assured her, "Only undercharged."

"Good," she yawned.

"Perhaps you should get some rest?"

"Yeah. Good idea," she muttered, standing up wobbily to go back to her room, "'Night."

After the door closed after, Renji asked, "So you want to know what all happened last night?"

Byakuya nodded, "Proceed."

Rukia awoke hours later to the sound of her door quietly opening. She rolled over to see it was Renji, looking exhausted.

"Hey," he said, coming over to sit on the edge of her bed.

"Hey," she answered back, "What time...?"

"Almost three."

"Ah. I feel better. Have you gotten any rest?"

"Nope. Had to explain everything to your brother. We discussed some other stuff too, and preliminary news reports are coming through."

Rukia held her breath, "Anything bad?"

"Nothing so far to connect us to the mysterious demolition of Aizen Industries. And since Aizen's body isn't gonna turn up, they can't charge anyone with his murder. They're chalking everything up to some freak research accident, and as long as Ichimaru doesn't turn up in a ditch somewhere, they'll have no reason to think otherwise."

"Good," Rukia sighed. "I hope he's okay, somewhere."

"He probably will be. He's a crafty little bastard."

"Yeah."

"Your brother's giving Ukitake a minimal run-down of events, dealing with Kira, and all. But that's not all we talked about."

"Oh?"

"We also... Talked about the future some. About you going away to Seireitei University."

"And what did nii-sama have to say about that?"

"Well... He doesn't want you living in the dorms. Says they'd be a bad influence, and 'entirely unfit for one of our station.' Or something like that," he laughed. Then more seriously, "He's arranging for you to have an apartment, near the campus. You'll live there with a bodyguard, in case Aizen has any other subordinates hiding somewhere who might be looking for revenge."

"And who will my bodyguard be?"

"Uh, me," Renji said sheepishly.

Rukia smiled, "Good. I would probably be driven to homicide, living with any of the others."

"There's more. As your bodyguard, I'll be going with you to all your classes anyway. I mean - you're already so far above me, and I don't want to fall farther away from you, so... Your brother and I have an agreement," Renji took a deep breath, "I'll be studying along with you. He'll be testing me. And if he's satisfied with my progress, I'll start working with Kuchiki Communications. As a businessman, not a bodyguard. I'll be someone you can be proud to be seen with."

She shuffled forward to wrap him in a hug, "Idiot. I've always been proud of you."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: The end! Thank you to all readers and reviewers. There may be a sequel at some point. **


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